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Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Daily Vortex of Blogging

Just call me Jonah. This blog has nearly swallowed me whole!

I love writing this blog. I look to blogs for clean living tips, recipes, pregnancy and birth information (premature research, mind you), product reviews, and entertainment. There is just so much available through blogs, not to mention the friendships I've gained in real life. But by golly. Blogging has taken over my life!

Here is the vortex that my daily life gets sucked into:I am in constant conversation through Twitter, blog comments, e-mail, and Instagram. I use all my break time at work to read blogs. I check my phone as soon as I hear an e-mail or Twitter notification. I will stay up later than planned to make sure my post is ready to go live at midnight. Every free moment is spent checking e-mail on my phone.

I consider myself a multi-tasker, but when I'm constantly "multi-tasking" on my laptop while I'm talking to my husband at home, the line needs to be drawn. With grad school starting next month, I need to conjure my inner boot camp instructor and get my life in line! I've already taken steps in keeping myself in check.

+ I suspended ad swapping with other bloggers.
+ I'm posting 4-5 times per week (and I stopped feeling guilty about going 2-3 days without posting).
+ I disabled blog e-mail and Twitter notifications on my phone.
+ I use time at home to read, make cards, and veg out on the couch with my husband sans laptop.
+ I go to bed when I want to, even if a post isn't ready for the next day. (Genius!)

I'm doing my best to recognize when I need to simplify. I am reminding myself that blogging is an outlet for me, not a business. I have a full-time job already. I love blogging and everything that comes with it (that means YOU), and I want to continue having fun doing it! I feel so much better making these little changes right now than actually getting swallowed whole by blogging and taking extreme measures like deleting my social media accounts or ending the blog altogether. Like Jenni said, I need to "cut the proverbial fat."

So there you have it. I'm on a mission to downsize in order to upgrade my life! I'm expecting to yield great results. I guess this is what they call adult decisions. Do I sound old and wise? I am turning 28 next month, after all.

Even if you're not a blogger, do you ever feel like your life is overtaken by "noise" and distraction? Let's downsize together! Cheers to giving life our undivided attention!

20 comments:

I'm so glad for all of you honest bloggers out there who are stepping up to say that posting 5x a week may not be feasible when you have a real life to live a well! No one should feel guilty if they haven't posted in 3 days. I applaud you for your honesty, Lindsay, and agree that some downsizing needs to happen in my life too. I look forward to hearing how it goes for you. I'll still be a faithful reader, period.

UHM YES. Needed to read that! Lately I've been in that same place and have just gotten to where I'm not as crazy about answering back emails as soon as I get them, and not worrying if I don't post for a little while. It feels good to do it because I want to, not out of obligation, ya know? Love your honesty!

Thankfully this is something that I actually realized just a couple of weeks ago! I stopped pursuing ad swaps, stopped concentrating on numbers of followers, and stopped feeling the need to post everyday. In July, I posted 22 times. In August? Only 15. And you know what? That's okay with me!

LOVE THIS! Amazing post. I've been working on doing the exact same thing. Blogging actually hasn't sucked up all of my life for the simple fact that I do a lot of it at work since I usually don't have much to do. Otherwise, YES. It would own me. The one thing I really need to work on is stepping away from my email/instagram/twitter during the evenings. It's a work in progress. I'm all about simplifying :) Especially with grad school starting! You go, girl :)

Yes, yes, and yes! You know I totally agree with you Lindsay! We've been traveling this road together... So proud of you for taking these steps! I know you'll be glad you did. One big, huge, giant step I consciously HAVEN'T taken, is getting a smart phone. I know it would be my demise. I just simply don't have the will power to keep it within proper bounds.- Good luck to you! And thanks for the shout out :-)!

I rarely ever see my husband since he is working 15-17hr days. So on the weekends he has my undivided attention and I stay away from the internet world. We all need to set limits with our time in the virtual world because it is easy to get carried away!

I love that line, "I'm on a mission to downsize in order to upgrade my life!" So well put. You've got my wheels spinning. I would love to downsize... just need to figure out how. As always, awesome post!

I've never set blogging goals per se, but I haven been up LATE at night reading blogs and tweeting and generally goofing off. I am thinking about doing "no screen" time in my house where we can just kick back and listen to music and read or whatever.

AMEN! I'm glad you got this off your chest. I feel the SAME way, but haven't expressed it word for word on my blog. I've learned to let go on my own, and actually still learning as we speak. We just can't lose sight of the REASON behind our whole blogging purpose... and you're right... you have a FT job already, so downsizing is a MUST especially when grad school begins!

I am SO with you there. I used to apologize all the time on twitter, saying "OMG I suck as a blogger, I don't have a post ready!" I decided to stop letting blogging get so much to me. It's hard when your job takes up so much time and your husband feels like he's lost you to your computer. I decided I was just going to post whenever I had something to post about. I hardly schedule posts anymore unless I think about it. This post was so refreshing! Love it!!!

So exciting for you to be starting grad school! But you're right, prioritising is hard but you have to do it or you will drive yourself mad.

I came to the conclusion about a month ago that I just have to be happy doing what I can with blogging. I like doing it, but it's a hobby to me. My real passion is my career and especially since I don't have children right now, needs to come first (outside of my husband of course).

By the way, you mentioned making cards in your free time, I just wanted to tell you that your cards are adorable!

I don't think I've reached this level with my blogging yet, but I definitely understand unplugging from other sites in order to upgrade your life. I'm not really on twitter, facebook, instagram, or any of those other sites/apps anymore. It's amazing!

I definitely understand what you mean Lindsay...It's crazy how much blogging can take over your life! It's definitely taken over mine...but if I've learned one thing in the time that I've been blogging, it's that people only want to read blogs about life. You have to live if you want to blog! So go live my dear...we'll all still be here!

nicely said! i totally agree! blogging can become very addictive :) Hey, if you want, check out my blog www.nessa-mae.blogspot.co.uk, If you like it follow on GFC and Bloglovin, and I ALWAYS follow back xx – Vanessa Mae

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In a Nutshell

Middle child. Working girl-mom of one. Married to my work crush that I swore I'd never date. MBA grad. Lover of kombucha, interior design, musical theatre, and YouTube. My spirit animal is a mix of Sara Bareilles, Joanna Gaines, and a cat.
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